TELEVISION REVIEW

TELEVISION REVIEW; Now a Film About You-Know-What

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR

Published: January 31, 1995

The O. J. Simpson public-relations juggernaut is operating at full steam these days with supporters and family giving exclusive television interviews and, most astonishing, Mr. Simpson's own self-serving book complete with a mournful soundtrack. Now, accidentally providing a semblance of balance, we get the television movie, Fox's "The O. J. Simpson Story," the first and, unfortunately, not likely to be the last.

This is another of television's scavenger productions, eager to pounce on the bare bones of any sensational story that might turn up a few gold fillings for the network bottom line. We've had Amy and Joey and the Menendez brothers. Could the Juice be far behind? No way, although Fox sanctimoniously notes that it held off on the broadcast until the jury had been selected and sequestered.

"The O. J. Simpson Story" is not a movie the defense team would want the jury to see. There is the standard tabula rasa approach to the story, making the facts look objective and keeping the scenes short to let the viewer fill in the pro or con blanks. Mr. Simpson, played sympathetically by Bobby Hosea ("China Beach"), gets his due as a charismatic and lovable sports legend as well as an often loving husband and always loving father. But on the whole, the prosecutor would have few objections to the general depiction of situations and events.

The film makes no attempt to portray the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman. It opens on June 12, 1994, just moments after the murders, and quickly begins jumping back and forth in time. In Los Angeles in 1977, he meets Nicole (Jessica Tuck), a waitress who doesn't even know who the superstar Simpson is. In San Francisco 1964, a young O. J. (Bumper Robinson), already a high school football star, is caught stealing wine but the police officers end up asking for his autograph.

Then young Simpson swipes the girlfriend of his best friend, A. C. Cowlings (David Roberson), who angrily shouts: "You get everything! The little bit I get, you got to have that, too." Marguerite (Kimberly Russell), the young woman in question, will be his first wife. Mr. Simpson is seen getting used to having his way early on. The movie suggests this was his Achilles heel. Marguerite, eventually furious with his womanizing, warns him, "When things aren't perfect, you are scared to death."

Willie Mays, the baseball star and enduring role model, is dragged into this tawdry tale, not once but twice. Played by Eugene Lee, he is seen giving the young Simpson some advice: "Fame is vapor, popularity's an accident and money takes wings. The only thing that endures is character." He gets to repeat himself in a final collage of the movie's key scenes, always an easy filler device.

Mr. Hosea comes across as a slimmer, somewhat gentler Mr. Simpson. He makes the man as attractive as possible but, around the middle of the two-hour movie, the script leaves little room for maneuvering. The loving husband becomes a bat-wielding, car-smashing lout. A single battering scene with Nicole is vicious. He then becomes the menacing stalker. As for his relationship with Nicole, he tells her: "This is it. We are each other's destiny."

Fending off his attempts at reconcilation, she finally insists, "No!" adding, "You've never heard that word in your entire life." The film ends with the strange journey of the white Bronco, with Mr. Cowlings driving and Mr. Simpson threatening suicide.